Dine on Labor

Read Philip Dine on President-Elect Barack Obama and the impact his election will have on Labor. Click here for Story.

All the talk the past few days has been about the $700 billion bailout proposal in response to the financial meltdown and the prospect of even worse if Washington doesn’t respond quickly to the crises facing the housing market, Wall Street and financial institutions.

The talk shouldn’t obscure the fact that what’s really important in terms of most Americans, the country’s future — and yes, the election — is how average Americans are doing, and how they’ll likely be affected by the current problems and the proposed solutions from federal officials.

In terms of the election, the thought here has long been that despite all the talk of new politics and a changed electoral map, things are likely to come down — once again — to working-class swing voters (aka Reagan Democrats/NASCAR Dads/blue-collar conservatives) in key states.

The central place of economics and the switch away from lipstick and social issues, makes this all the more likely by putting the emphasis on blue-collar folks trying to make ends meet. And it just so happens that these swing voters are concentrated in the traditional swing states — places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia and Missouri.

The whole matter of blue-collar voters wrestling with their economic interests and their values is discussed in depth in my book “State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence,” particularly in Chapter 3, titled “Heartland Values,” which is based largely on reporting from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Labor’s potential role in all this — and it’s a major one thus far largely-unfilled — is dealt with in the following chapter, “From Dialogue to Division.”

Whoever wins two of those first three aforementioned states — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan — is likely to move into the White House in January. And don’t neglect Missouri, which has been the top bellwether state in the country for the past century; no president having occupied the White House without capturing the Show Me state. (Missouri did vote for loser Adlai Stevenson against Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, but switched and voted with the winner four years later, when Ike won a second term).

The attention to economic issue has a second effect — it helps Democrat Barack Obama, because of the concern about current economic policies that Obama is perceived as likely to change. It also helps Obama indirectly by shifting attention away from national security and foreign policy, which are seen by most Americans as Republican John McCain’s strength.

But among the voters in question, Obama still has work to do, convincing them not only that he has better economic plans but that he’ll fight hard for the average person. That was the key to Hillary Clinton’s success among blue-collar voters, whom she convinced both that she had their interests at heart and would go to bat for them. To make major inroads among working-class voters, Obama needs to shift his focus from change and unity to addressing their specific grievances, and his cerebral approach needs to strike more of a combative tone.

That’s certainly possible, but McCain’s potential appeal to many of these voters shouldn’t be underestimated. His sacrifice, service and valor resonate among them, even without Sarah Palin’s presence, which serves to solidify his standing on social values.

There’ll be good weeks and bad weeks ahead for each candidate, and periods that focus on the economy while others turn to national security (watch Russia and Ukraine). But for those watching the campaign, attention shouldn’t stray from the trends among ordinary people in places like Canton and greater Pittsburgh.

Here’s another reason labor needs to seize the initiative in the ways discussed in the book: in Missouri, which almost always goes with the winner, McCain is now leading.

State of the Unions is back in stock at Amazon.com. The online book giant finally caught up with back orders today. Amazon couldn’t keep up, it seems, with the large demand for the book which began over Labor Day weekend and continues unabated. The book is also available online at Barnes & Noble, Politics & Prose, Borders Books,
McGraw-Hill, and Powell Books. Also order at book stores or order directly from the author here..

The book is under high demand this Labor Day season and McGraw-Hill is working to keep up. Amazon goes in and out of stock, but the book usually is available from:

• Barnes & Noble
• Politics & Prose
• Borders Books
• McGraw-Hill
• Powell Books

Also, placing an order personally at a bookstore usually works, or — should you want an autographed copy — visit our web site here..

After years on the defensive on all counts — bargaining, politics, organizing — labor is on the move on a variety of fronts. Perhaps more important than any particular issue is that labor’s enthusiasm has returned.

That’s the clear sense I get, as a result of having the opportunity recently to speak to a number of unions about the status of the labor movement and what lies ahead.

Whether it’s the Teachers, Laborers or Bricklayers, the San Diego Labor Council, Pennsylvania COPE or DC Metro Labor Council, or some of America’s key labor leaders like Rich Trumka, Gerald McEntee or Rich Trumka, there’s an optimism and drive that can’t be missed.

It’s not just the election, which they anticipate will lead to political and legislative changes that might give workers some help and labor a fairer shake, but also the sense that members are engaged and that the public at large feels the pendulum has swung too far in one direction and so policies and practices need to be redirected to establish a more-level playing field.

As someone who’s written a book on labor (State of the Unions: How Labor can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve our Economy, and Regain Political Influence) it even seems that the media is increasingly interested in discussuing these topics. Whether it’s the approaching election or Labor Day or something else, the result is the same — attention to issues that for too long have gone unreported and unexamined. Several recent developments have served to galvanize regional and national attention around matters of American jobs and control, notably the tanker refueling contract and the planned sale of Anheuser-Busch.

That said, if labor is to fully capitalize on the current political developments, socio-economic trends and public sentiments, unions and their leaders need to sharpen their efforts on two fronts: communications and values.

Harnessing the momentum will require getting out the message of why labor is as relevant as ever; of drawing the links for people between the economic anxiety affecting workers/middle class and the weakening over decades of the labor movement; of why a more-balanced industrial relations system is not just in unions’ or workers’ interest but in the national interest. This is not a difficult case to make, but it needs to be made sharply and crisply because people are busy and have a lot on their minds and these are not things they necessarily think much about.

Taking advantage of the confluence of events will also require that labor recast its diverse issues as fundamental American values, so it can compete on the all-important values terrain. Labor needs, during elections and every other time, to emphasize values of fair play, of economic justice, of people sticking together and standing up for one another, of the fate of small towns and mom-and-pop businesses and family farms being determined on the local level and not by distant corporations, of job security and hard-working people being able to support their families. Doing so will not only make labor’s hoped-for election results occur, it will also give them more meaning by providing labor with a mandate from those results.

Labor’s decline was never inevitable or pre-ordained, and the union movement has a chance now to begin to turn things around. But it must act imaginatively and robustly now if the potential improvements are to actually materialize.

Chapter 2 - Delta Pride

“If the case of the Iowa firefighters shows what labor can achieve in the political arena given the proper strategy, the story of the Delta Pride illustrates labor’s potential in the realm of the workplace and workers’ lives, as well as in the broader community — despite declining resources, ebbing strength, and adversaries with influence. This achievement is all the more stunning because it occurred in a state in which the elite has long viewed organized labor as an alien element and in which union membership has represented a scant 5 percent of the workforce.

The sleepy Delta town of Indianola lies in the heart of Mississippi’s Sunflower County, an isolated region where change comes slowly, if at all. Grab a counter stool at one of the local eateries, and just as in years past, they’ll slide you a plate of fresh local catfish with homemade hush puppies and coleslaw. It’s the kind of delicious and inexpensive fare you’d expect to find in the catfish capital of the country, and when you’re done, they’ll urge you to “Come back and visit us again, y’hear?” — making a first-timer feel almost like an old-timer.

You can get a room at the inn for $40 a night, but unless you book the second floor, you may have to sweep the blackened window clear of crickets simply to peer outside or block the vents with your shoes to keep them out. And try to avoid the little green frogs that every few seasons invade the area and hop all over people. Whites still tend to cluster north of the railroad tracks, where stately homes and some sprawling estates dot the countryside. South of the tracks one finds a world of stark poverty, where blacks live in narrow shacks virtually on top of one another, though in recent years some have been torn down.

The town — population 12,066, home town of blues singer B.B. King, and birthplace of the White Citizens Council that was formed a half-century ago to defend Jim Crow practices — is midway between Jackson and Memphis and 25 miles east of the Mississippi River that divides the state from Arkansas. It retains a provincial view of the outside world, sometimes startlingly so. On my first visit years ago, a deputy sheriff wearing a fake smile greeted me in mellifluous tones, “How about that — you all the way down here from St. Louis, Kansas, just to visit us.” He was, of course, about as genuinely glad to see me as he was geographically literate, since my intent was highly subversive: to report on a bitter labor struggle that had racial overtones. But then as now, manners and at least the pretense of hospitality trump sincerity.

…..See Next Installment on Next Post

I recently attended a labor forum where T-shirts were given out that read “agitate, educate, organize.” Good enough advice, but if labor is to survive, and thrive, its foremost task right now is this: communicate, communicate, communicate. The reasons for this could fill a book, (and come to think of it, just about did) but in this limited space here are four points.

1. The public regards labor as largely irrelevant. It’s anything but, but unless trade unionists explain why in a period of a growing assault on workers and the middle class labor is as important as ever, people won’t connect the dots between their own travails and labor’s weakened status
2. This election looms as tailor-made for labor’s issues to occupy center stage, if union activists and rank-and-file workers can explain why they’re everyone’s issues.
3. Crafting and communicating a clear message hasn’t necessarily been labor’s strength, but with a bevy of committed and talented communications folks now in place, it’s something that’s within labor grasp, whereas other goals such as organizing or making gains in collective bargaining are far more elusive at the moment, given the balance of power between labor and management.
4. Increasing public understanding of what labor’s all about and boosting its public image would have an impact on all aspects of labor’s activities, from organizing to negotiating to politicking.

Labor is receiving an unusual amount of attention these days, much of it focused on the fierce political battles unions are waging on behalf of various presidential hopeful in the primaries. Reporters and even some talking heads on television who generally ignore the union movement are paying at least some attention, even if much of it is to wonder about labor’s effectiveness in the campaign.

Far less talked about, but perhaps more important, is the attention labor is getting in another sphere altogether — the world of books. Suddenly, it seems, unions, workers and trade unionists are the subject of some interest. Quality books such as “U.S. Labor in Trouble: The Failure of Reform From Above, The Promise of Revival from Below,” “Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy,” “The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi” and “Global Unions: Challenging Transnational Capital Through Cross-Border Campaigns” are important for several reasons.

They reflect a renewed interest in labor that will likely seep into the broader consciousness. The subjects and subject matter, even if sometimes from the recent past, suggest the current relevance of labor, if nothing else by showing how little has changed. Perhaps most of all, they not only contain fresh ideas and thinking about labor, they spur the same by those who read and discuss the books. The importance of this may not be self-evident but in fact it can’t be overestimated. It’s through the power of ideas that change and progress take place. When conservatism seemed out of favor and lacking in relevance to today’s America, what did its advocates do? They set up think tanks, to generate new ideas that would help the movement regain influence and adherents and, eventually, political power.

The spate of books, with the above-mentioned only a sampling, comes on the heels of labor’s period of self-examination about how best to rejuvenate the union movement. This intellectual ferment, both within and about the labor movement, augurs well for its eventual revival.

I had the chance recently to participate in a two-day workshop on Working America at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. There, trade unionists, labor scholars and some activists from Europe, got acquainted with the AFL-CIO program. It’s a successful, yet still relatively unpublicized community affiliate that’s good for labor because it gives workers who don’t have a union at their place of work the opportunity to join with other like-minded folks in working for political, social and economic change.

In some three years nearly 2 million people have joined, many of them in key battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. In a way, Working America reflects a bid by the labor movement to make inroads despite an organizing climate complicated by the flight of union jobs overseas, the transfer of some manufacturing to right-to-work states, and increasing employer aggressiveness in countering union drives.

For years, as I argue in my book “State of the Unions”, labor has been on a vicious cycle downward. Its inability to achieve net gains in organizing impairs its ability to push for changes in trade policy or labor laws, pretty much guaranteeing that the membership woes will continue.

That, in turn, only serves to compromise labor’s strength vis-a-vis employers in collective bargaining, making it less attractive to prospective members. And on and on.

But Working America manages to get workers and middle class people engaged in fighting for change despite the organizing hurdles. And, this, in turn, makes it more likely that the systemic factors compromising labor’s ability to increase its institutional strength can be addressed.